http://i.gizmodo.com/5075525/why-you-should-buy-a-refurbished-laptop

Which is exactly what I did when I bought my “new” Dell XT.  When built new, this machine would have cost $2200, but was available for around $800-$900.  With a 20% off coupon, shipping, tax, it came out to about $671.

I was planning on picking up a netbook and a Wacom tablet.  Then Ted told me about this deal, which I bit on.  So far, it seems like a great compromise.  Throwing on the Windows 7 beta was also a great idea, as was buying Crayon Physics Deluxe.

Overall, I’ve been pleased with my new laptop.  It isn’t powerful enough for any serious gaming, but I never really intended to do that due to battery life on any laptop.  The Windows 7 beta has been running smoothly and has additional enhancements for tablets and touch screens that XP and Vista do not.  It still comes with a normal warranty, and cost significantly less.  Using the pen instead of a mouse takes a little getting used to, and it came with both a touchpad and touchstick, so sometimes I find myself using any of the three for navigation purposes.  I still use the keyboard to enter any text and just haven’t tried the pen text entry.